Braves quotes after 2-1 victory over Pirates Sunday at PNC Park.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Alex Wood’s start
Tremendous. Great putting. Mixed his pitches well. He attacked the strike zone today. He was committed to every pitch. He did a great job (against) a primarily right-handed hitting lineup. His changeup was good. He gave us a tremendous opportunity to win the game. We took him as far as we could there in the eighth inning and J.J. (Jim Johnson) did a good job shutting the door. It’s never easy to win a big-league ballgame even though you have a two-run lead, and we did it. A happy plane going back on an off day is always good.
On Jace Peterson’s home run in the seventh
He’s had a couple big situations. Yesterday he had a three-run double, today it was a solo home run to give us another run. He’s swinging the bat nicely.
On Wood’s efficiency
He was good. He was really, really good.
On Eury Perez’s status after he left the game following collision in outfield
He checked out OK. You going to ask me how I am? I was a little nervous. I thought we weregoing to lose two players out there but luckily (Cameron Maybin) is OK and Eury checked out. It was more his torso than it was the head. There’s nothing there so hopefully we dodged a bullet.
On Wood getting out of jam in seventh
He rose up there. We’ve got first and second with no outs and the bunt them over to second and third, to get out of that inning with no runs was a big inning for us.
On Wood fielding Francisco Cervelli’s bunt
He’s an OK athlete. He doesn’t look really athletic but he gets off the mound. If you look at the replay, it looked like he had trouble getting it out of his glove with a guy who can run a little bit. IT was a good outing by him.
**ALEX WOOD
On his outing
Two big things for me was command of the sinker arm side to righties and also command of the breaking ball. I was able to do both of those today and my changeup was good when I needed it.
On getting out of the seventh inning
I threw a good pitch to (Andrew) McCutchen. Obviously he’s a tremendous hitter, he gets a knock up the middle. I tried to side step (Starling) Marte and hopefully he rolls over something, he stayed on it and they get first and second. I was honestly surprised that Cervelli bunted there. It was a good bunt. We got the out. You don’t want to give (Jordy Mercer) too much good to hit, base open and a potential double play ball on deck. We didn’t pitch around him but threw some competitive pitches. Once we get two strikes we felt we could get the punch out.
On if there was any carryover from last start in Washington
Not really. When you have a day like today when you’ve got all three (pitches) going, they usually turn into fun days. We needed a win today and everybody came to play. It definitely feels good to get out of Pittsburgh with a W.
On his curveball
Any time I can command my breaking ball like that it’s definitely big from me because when you have it coming out of your hand and the break is good, those are the pitches you are trying to throw to right-handers. Backdoor breaking balls is when you get your swings and misses.
**JASON GRILLI
On getting the win on getaway day
Any win is good, man. Woody pitched phenomenal. J.J. came in to get those big outs, and then to put the finishing touches on it it’s always big. Obviously for me personally it’s good to walk away and come back from the other night’s performance.
On Perez and Maybin giving good effort on the collision
You have heard me saying this plenty of times, our guys are busting their (butts) every day, playing hard. The effort is there. That’s a clear indication, just one example of going hard at it. We are playing for each other. We’ve got everybody’s backs. I am glad everybody is OK, that’s the most important thing. It’s good to not add injury to insult and walk away with a victory.
**A.J. PIERZYNSKI
On Alex Wood’s start
He was really good. Other than the seventh inning, when they got the couple hits to lead off the seventh inning, he was pretty much in control the whole game. He had all three of his pitches working, moving his fastball around, getting ahead in the count. That’s what he can do. When he’s right he can dominate lineups and today you saw a glimpse of what he’s capable of when he’s right.
On Wood’s emotion after getting out of jam in seventh
Second and third, (one) out, is a big situation. We had a two-run lead at the time. To get out of it without giving up any—we were counting on maybe giving up one and damage control and get through it. To give up out of that inning ended up being huge. It was a big situation and he should be excited.
On Wood’s curveball
He had a good curveball, he had a good fastball. He threw a lot of fastballs in to right-handed hitters and backed them up and just made them respect both sides of the plate. He had a lot of strikeouts especially looking on fastballs in on the plate because they were looking over.
